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Stu_HMFC

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I Will keep this short and sweet . Not worried just wondering if anyone else had this before 

 

4 years ago I used to park at hermiston gate to get the tram into town for work, 4 years later I have 3 letters from DCBL wanting me to pay £160 per letter for parking longer than the maximum stay, Back then I just ignored them after it reading up on it. I paid a fine years ago in Livingston but after I paid was told by guys I worked with at the time I should of just ignored them.
 

The letters look pretty amateur I’ve had a look online and folk down south saying it’s a load of rubbish don’t even contact them.

 

Anyone else had dealing with this mob ? .

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As long as it states it is a parking charge and a one off you may be able to ignore it. 

 

Edit - 

Sorry - to go further, the companies attempt a charge that looks like a real parking ticket. Only the council can issue a parking ticket which is a fine that is enforceable. A parking charge is an attempt to bill you and under the consumer rights act you can dispute it (by not replying is best). 

 

People have fallen foul of this before when they repeat park and get repeat bills. In court they have no real leg to stand on as they would have been warned multiple times to stop. These companies only take people to court or chase a debt for something substantial (ie. the repeat offenders racking up +10k in charges), small claims aren't worth it.

Edited by Mysterion
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Just ignore them. They're bottom feeders trying it on. They'll move onto the next person once they realise they're not getting a bite. 

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Thanks guys! 
 

I ignored one in Falkirk about 4 years ago nothing came of it , I paid one in Livi about 8 years ago and then these ones ignored the original letters then 4 years later they send me these . It’s madness some folk would open these letters panic and pay for them . As one of my friends said it’s like me parking in his drive way his ( private land ) putting a sign up saying max stay 3hrs I park for 10 then he sends me letters wanting a fine paid.

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11 minutes ago, Stu_HMFC said:

Thanks guys! 
 

I ignored one in Falkirk about 4 years ago nothing came of it , I paid one in Livi about 8 years ago and then these ones ignored the original letters then 4 years later they send me these . It’s madness some folk would open these letters panic and pay for them . As one of my friends said it’s like me parking in his drive way his ( private land ) putting a sign up saying max stay 3hrs I park for 10 then he sends me letters wanting a fine paid.

I had one too recently from Hermiston Gait car park debt collectors, I'm guessing the same firm. It was for an overstay from March 2019. I got the first letter on 1 Dec and another 19 Dec. Binned both and heard nothing since. If something comes from the Small Claims Court I'll take it more seriously.

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29 minutes ago, Stu_HMFC said:

3 off these letters . 😂

8728785C-1F93-47D8-9FE4-F51439B4C16E.jpeg

 

That is referring to the County Court, which to me as a non-lawyer looks like England only and not applicable to Scots law.

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1 hour ago, Stu_HMFC said:

I Will keep this short and sweet . Not worried just wondering if anyone else had this before 

 

4 years ago I used to park at hermiston gate to get the tram into town for work, 4 years later I have 3 letters from DCBL wanting me to pay £160 per letter for parking longer than the maximum stay, Back then I just ignored them after it reading up on it. I paid a fine years ago in Livingston but after I paid was told by guys I worked with at the time I should of just ignored them.
 

The letters look pretty amateur I’ve had a look online and folk down south saying it’s a load of rubbish don’t even contact them.

 

Anyone else had dealing with this mob ? .

I got the exact same letter from DCBL earlier this week, dating back to a ticket I got in march 2016 and ignored. It is getting ignored too.  I guess this will be the last time they try, as in March it'll be time barred as 5 years will have passed.

 

The annoying thing is I actually had a parking pass for where I was parked, but my car had been in for a service the day before and the garage had put a sticker right over the pass. I could have contested it at the time, but chose not to, as I couldn't be bothered and also feared some jobsworth **** at the parking company might decided I still had to pay.

 

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2 hours ago, Lemongrab said:

I got the exact same letter from DCBL earlier this week, dating back to a ticket I got in march 2016 and ignored. It is getting ignored too.  I guess this will be the last time they try, as in March it'll be time barred as 5 years will have passed.

 

The annoying thing is I actually had a parking pass for where I was parked, but my car had been in for a service the day before and the garage had put a sticker right over the pass. I could have contested it at the time, but chose not to, as I couldn't be bothered and also feared some jobsworth **** at the parking company might decided I still had to pay.

 

Yeah man I never got in touch with them or not responding to these letters because they will know I have received them 😂 is it 5 years then they get stopped I read it was 6 ? 

 

This will be the company taking a chance and sending these letters out trying to get as much money in as possible what is still outstanding because they are making nothing due to Covid . Just going to keep ignoring them if I get more . I’d be very surprised if I got a knock at the door and someone trying to take payment or trying to take the car as seen on tv 😂

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23 minutes ago, Stu_HMFC said:

Yeah man I never got in touch with them or not responding to these letters because they will know I have received them 😂 is it 5 years then they get stopped I read it was 6 ? 

 

This will be the company taking a chance and sending these letters out trying to get as much money in as possible what is still outstanding because they are making nothing due to Covid . Just going to keep ignoring them if I get more . I’d be very surprised if I got a knock at the door and someone trying to take payment or trying to take the car as seen on tv 😂

6 in England,  but only 5 in Scotland.  For some debt, like tax and benefits, it's 20 years.

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2 minutes ago, Lemongrab said:

6 in England,  but only 5 in Scotland.  For some debt, like tax and benefits, it's 20 years.

That’s good then . There will be people they catch of guard scare them and they end up paying it . 

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Yeah the mrs has been getting these letters for the past few months now and the general advice online is to ignore.

 

As another poster said, they'll be struggling for revenue because of lockdown. Probably why they're revisiting historical cases like yours. It's a last desperate attempt to get payment.

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N Lincs Jambo

There has actually been a breach of your data protection rights here. I had similar and was advised by a friend who is a barrister to ignore (I did and they eventually gave up but it did take a couple of years). Basically if a company contacts the DVLA to request details (they sell your details at £35 a pop), the DVLA is breaking the data protection laws by providing them. He advised that I should contact the DVLA and tell them that they have broken the law re my data. He explained that it wouldn’t make any difference regarding the case in question but it would make sure it wouldn’t happen again in my case. Interesting how government agencies can basically disregard the law and profit from it on a huge scale.

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7 hours ago, Boof said:

4 years ago?

 

I'm sure you can't remember who was driving your car...

Would be surprised what images they have.

Mate got done speeding on the M876 a few years back.

His initial  response ,he wasnt sure who was driving,he told them it may have been his wife.

They sent him a lovely " clear as day pic" of him scratching his nose  whilst pointing  at the traffic camera with a confused look on his face 👍

 

,

 

 

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1 hour ago, mrcrisps said:

Written by a lawyer who makes money from giving parking fine legal advice/challenging fines in court. :lol: 
It’s an advert to garner business: “If you are unsure of your options when issued with a Parking Charge Notice or court proceedings have been raised against you, seek legal advice at an early stage.”
 

And the example they use is of someone from Dundee with 200 separate tickets. Of course that was worth them taking it to court. :lol: 
 

I’ve yet to hear of somebody being taken to court after ignoring a handful of these charges and notices. There has been murmuring of the law changing with regard to being obliged to name the driver but it’s been a few years and still no change. 
 

The chance of them taking someone to court with little/no evidence of who was driving for under £500 is minimal. 
 

OP: This is not legal advice though, do your own research before deciding. I’ve never had a parking ticket private or otherwise so couldn’t honestly say what i’d do under the same circumstances. 

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2 hours ago, N Lincs Jambo said:

There has actually been a breach of your data protection rights here. I had similar and was advised by a friend who is a barrister to ignore (I did and they eventually gave up but it did take a couple of years). Basically if a company contacts the DVLA to request details (they sell your details at £35 a pop), the DVLA is breaking the data protection laws by providing them. He advised that I should contact the DVLA and tell them that they have broken the law re my data. He explained that it wouldn’t make any difference regarding the case in question but it would make sure it wouldn’t happen again in my case. Interesting how government agencies can basically disregard the law and profit from it on a huge scale.

It depends which company requests the information. BPA and a couple of others are fully accredited so they can get details when they deem there is cause to do so.

 

As many others have said just ignore unless it's from the police or council ( do not ignore either of those) In the highly unlikely event of court proceedings occurs you can pay, with charges, prior to going and there will be no harm done to your credit rating. 

 

Also be aware that these 'debts' get sold from company to company so despite the letterhead or different wording in the letter it's the same scare tactics. 

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Doctor FinnBarr

I got a £60 fine from parking eye for parking in one of the new hotels at Edinburgh airport whilst waiting on Beljejambo turning up for the 2019 CF.It was ignored and had worked its way up to £180, I finally got a solicitors letter from some firm telling me to pay or else. A 30 second Google search confirmed the solicitors were another wing of parking eye, ignored again and heard nowt for over a year now.

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9 hours ago, gjcc said:

Written by a lawyer who makes money from giving parking fine legal advice/challenging fines in court. :lol: 
It’s an advert to garner business: “If you are unsure of your options when issued with a Parking Charge Notice or court proceedings have been raised against you, seek legal advice at an early stage.”
 

And the example they use is of someone from Dundee with 200 separate tickets. Of course that was worth them taking it to court. :lol: 
 

I’ve yet to hear of somebody being taken to court after ignoring a handful of these charges and notices. There has been murmuring of the law changing with regard to being obliged to name the driver but it’s been a few years and still no change. 
 

The chance of them taking someone to court with little/no evidence of who was driving for under £500 is minimal. 
 

OP: This is not legal advice though, do your own research before deciding. I’ve never had a parking ticket private or otherwise so couldn’t honestly say what i’d do under the same circumstances. 

I agree with your comments, meant to add a comment to the link - I was trying to highlight that it is not a breach of the DPA for DVLA to provide your details in some circumstances. A barrister had told a previous poster that the supply of your details was not legally allowed. It may be this was a barrister who was commenting on an area outwith their normal expertise.

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remember that clown lot parking eye, wanted to phone them to tell them to bolt but there was not 

a number to get hold of them, was the time in Iceland car park and i noticed the clown on his wee scooter faffing about, later got a reminder to pay a charge which was not even put on my car, the car park was empty as well, total waste of time, never heard a thing.

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7 minutes ago, Harry Potter said:

remember that clown lot parking eye, wanted to phone them to tell them to bolt but there was not 

a number to get hold of them, was the time in Iceland car park and i noticed the clown on his wee scooter faffing about, later got a reminder to pay a charge which was not even put on my car, the car park was empty as well, total waste of time, never heard a thing.

 

Usually best not to contact them, as they see it as you acknowledging the debt and will go after you harder. 

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1 minute ago, Craig_ said:

 

Usually best not to contact them, as they see it as you acknowledging the debt and will go after you harder. 

they prey on older folk and the anxious, i even spoke to the iceland manager and he wanted nothing

to do with it, its there car park.

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Cheers guys 👍 it was ignored 4 years ago and the company who originally sent the letters have passed it to this Dcla whatever they are called . These letters just came out the blue yesterday morning.

 

just Like someone put further up in the thread they last 5 years this will be their final attempt to try and get me to fork out . Wouldn’t bother contacting them they will then know I have received the letters 😂.

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lost in space
5 hours ago, Craig_ said:

 

Usually best not to contact them, as they see it as you acknowledging the debt and will go after you harder. 

This may be true. I got a couple for an airport hotel 2 years ago. 

I didnt ignore and asked for details of the lighting (it was at night) + how big were the signs/how tall was the lettering on each sign/ how many signs/where were they/ was there a light on each sign/was there a ticket machine/ what was the cost of charges for alternate parking at airport/ etc etc

 

They didnt give me any details but kept sending letters. I kept replying with emails asking for information and asking about my previous emails etc. I told them that the court offence they had exampled was in England and that I was very confident that no sheriff would consider their charges fair.

I told them to take me to court and that I was happy to attend and give evidence.

 

I was basically winding them up - as I was unhappy to receive their bullying letters.

They stopped sending letters after a while.

However - probably best not to answer.

Edited by lost in space
mis spell
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9 hours ago, lost in space said:

I was basically winding them up - as I was unhappy to receive their bullying letters.

They stopped sending letters after a while.

However - probably best not to answer.

 

Yeah - the letters are designed to intimidate and make you panic. 

 

If anyone does decide to engage them it's worth advising any further correspondence will be responded to by solicitor and the Parking Company will be billed for costs incurred. 

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lost in space
10 hours ago, Mysterion said:

 

Yeah - the letters are designed to intimidate and make you panic. 

 

If anyone does decide to engage them it's worth advising any further correspondence will be responded to by solicitor and the Parking Company will be billed for costs incurred. 

Yes, actually - I said that I was logging my time spent on replying to their letters and would be charging them £40 per hour. I told them I would be keeping all correspondence for court and that now have been informed of my costs, they contacted me knowing my price.

Every time I emailed them, I was getting a standard "we have received your message" email - at which I would write to them again etc - went on for a while. They eventually said that they would not write to me again.

Probably best to ignore the letters though.

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I had a mate that used to respond to these letters by mailing back a letter with the contents from his ashtray. I had to have a word when he started posting his own shite. 

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21 hours ago, Stu_HMFC said:

Cheers guys 👍 it was ignored 4 years ago and the company who originally sent the letters have passed it to this Dcla whatever they are called . These letters just came out the blue yesterday morning.

 

just Like someone put further up in the thread they last 5 years this will be their final attempt to try and get me to fork out . Wouldn’t bother contacting them they will then know I have received the letters 😂.

 

The 5 year timescale starts over if you acknowledge their contact - best ignored as you say.

 

Edit: The 5 years is what they have to start court proceedings.

Edited by graygo
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  • 3 weeks later...

The company with the Hermiston Gait contract are sending out lots of these at the moment. Presumably as they have lot less new breaches to deal with...

 

Up to you if you want to pay it or engage with the debt collection company for past breaches. The best way to avoid getting any in the future is not overstaying the clearly-stated time limit. 

Edited by Peebo
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Just typed into Facebook parking fines DCBL it looks like a lot of those letters have been sent to folk since January for dated claims . 
 

Will be ignored again . 

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30 minutes ago, Stu_HMFC said:

Just typed into Facebook parking fines DCBL it looks like a lot of those letters have been sent to folk since January for dated claims . 
 

Will be ignored again . 

I got one in during the week for a car I no longer have from 3 years ago

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19 hours ago, Stu_HMFC said:

Same company mate ?

I notice earlier that the guys in the tv show 'Don't Pay, We'll take it Away' work for DCBL. 

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  • 4 weeks later...
19 minutes ago, Stu_HMFC said:

Another 3 letters from them today final reminders :vrface: 


There should be laws against this sort of thing. If someone is a repeat offender then fine take them to court but harassing folk doesn’t sound right to me. 

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8 minutes ago, AlimOzturk said:


There should be laws against this sort of thing. If someone is a repeat offender then fine take them to court but harassing folk doesn’t sound right to me. 

Aye they are not even getting opened now there getting binned straight away . On a Facebook page regarding this too saying exactly the same , nothing they can do dates back to 16 will be over in under a year their last attempt to try and get them paid . 

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Also their letters are quoting a url of a case decision that is no longer on the supreme courts website

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highlandjambo3
3 hours ago, Stu_HMFC said:

Another 3 letters from them today final reminders :vrface: 

Leave it.....if the brown stuff hits the fan and, it looks like things are going in their favour, then deny ever receiving the letters, posting through your door with your name on the envelope proves nothing (unless you signed for the letters or, you’ve admitted to receiving the letters).  If they can prove you received the letters then your stumped, if not then they are stumped but they will then send a registered letter or similar.

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The Dundee case referred to earlier by gjcc came about because the woman identified herself as the driver. They go after the driver. The parking companies don't have the power to request the DVLA to identify the owner. Only police and council can do that. They are a bunch of chancers. GIRUTHUM!

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I’ve just noticed something on the final reminder letter in bold underlined it says 

 

This case is not subject to high court or bailiff action 

 

😂 

 

and this is meant to be the final reminder . 

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11 hours ago, Stu_HMFC said:

Aye they are not even getting opened now there getting binned straight away . On a Facebook page regarding this too saying exactly the same , nothing they can do dates back to 16 will be over in under a year their last attempt to try and get them paid . 

 

Be careful with the 5 year thing, I think that resets every time you correspond with them.

 

Just found this.

 

For a debt to be statute barred after the five-year timescale in Scotland, the following must also apply during this time period:

 

The debt has not been acknowledged by the debtor

There are no decrees on the debt

The creditor has not made contact about the amount owed

No repayments have been made

 

The bit in bold is why you bin the letters and never acknowledge them.

Edited by graygo
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3 hours ago, Stu_HMFC said:

I’ve just noticed something on the final reminder letter in bold underlined it says 

 

This case is not subject to high court or bailiff action 

 

😂

 

and this is meant to be the final reminder . 

 

It's not subject to high court or bailiff action because it's a civil matter. They would need to take you to court, win their case and then you default on the outcome before it got anywhere near that.

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